Analog Integrated Circuits for Massively Parallel Wireless Transceivers

对无线通信的日益增长的需求使得频谱成为稀缺商品。 到2019年，加拿大的移动的数据流量预计将比2014年增加7倍。 作为回应，加拿大工业部正试图为商业供应商提供大约600 MHz和3500 MHz的新频谱，但这将需要投入大量资金调试和部署新设备。 与此同时，我们对未授权频谱（例如2.4 GHz和5.6 GHz左右）的使用增长速度甚至快于授权频谱，因此出现了巨大的拥塞。通信理论家现在已经知道了缓解这些频谱限制的技术，但它们必须经过调整才能在廉价的集成电路（IC）中实现。 具体来说，“大规模MIMO”是一种无线技术，它依赖于每个固定终端（即中央路由器或基站）处的数百甚至数千个天线。 所有的天线同时使用相同的频率向数百个用户发送和接收信号，从而允许大量的频谱重用。 理论上，在不增加频谱或辐射功率限制的情况下，通信带宽的数量级增加是可以实现的。 ** Massive MIMO的巨大潜力使其成为全球无线技术路线图的关键部分，但需要在混合模拟-数字集成电路设计方面进行创新才能使其实用化。大规模MIMO被视为满足未来几十年无线带宽需求的必要工具，并隐含在加拿大的无线监管政策中。 然而，这些路线图和假设已经受到质疑，因为直接实现大规模MIMO所需的模拟/混合信号IC信号处理是不切实际的。 该提案寻求模拟集成信号处理技术，以补充现有的通信技术，并实现实用和廉价的Massive MIMO通信。从事该计划的研究生将在UofT实验室进行通信链路的系统级建模和仿真，以及集成电路设计和表征。 他们的经验和培训是加拿大公司在这些市场建立或保持立足点的高需求。 因此，拟议的研究计划将有利于加拿大通过其HQP的技术领导地位，并通过加速下一代廉价无线宽带的广泛可用性。

Increasing demand for wireless communication has made spectrum a scarce commodity. Mobile data traffic in Canada is slated to increase 7-fold over 2014 levels by 2019. In response, Industry Canada is trying to make new spectrum available around 600MHz and 3500MHz for commercial providers, but this will require commissioning and deploying new equipment at great expense. At the same time, our use of unlicensed spectrum (around the 2.4 GHz and 5 6 GHz, for example) is growing even faster than that of the licensed spectrum, and therefore seeing tremendous congestion.******Technologies to alleviate these spectral constraints are now known to communication theorists, but they must be adapted to permit their implementation in inexpensive integrated circuits (ICs). Specifically, “Massive MIMO” is a wireless technology that relies upon hundreds or even thousands of antennas at each fixed terminal (i.e. central router or base-station). All antennas transmit and receive signals in concert to hundreds of users simultaneously using the same frequencies, thereby permitting tremendous reuse of the spectrum. Orders-of-magnitude increases in communication bandwidth are theoretically achievable without increasing spectrum or radiated-power limits. ******The tremendous potential of Massive MIMO has made it a key part of wireless technology roadmaps worldwide, but innovation on mixed analog-digital integrated circuit design is needed to make it practical. Massive MIMO is seen as a necessary tool for meeting wireless bandwidth demands in the coming decades, and is implicit in Canada's wireless regulatory policies. However, these roadmaps and assumptions are already being questioned because the analog/mixed-signal IC signal processing required for a straightforward implementation of Massive MIMO is impractical. This proposal seeks analog integrated signal processing technologies to complement existing communication technologies and enable practical and inexpensive Massive MIMO communication.******Graduate students engaged in the program will undertake system-level modeling and simulation of communication links, as well as integrated circuit design and characterization in UofT labs. Their experience and training is in high demand from Canadian companies working to establish or maintain their foothold in these markets. Hence, the proposed research program will benefit Canada via the technological leadership of its HQP, and by accelerating the wide availability of next-generation inexpensive wireless broadband.